Vegetable-washer



(No Model.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

Patented Nov. 15, 1892.

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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. E. J. HOLLISTER. VEGETABLE WASHER.

Patented Nov. 15, 1892.. 22 E .vliiomey v WJZJVESSES PAT NT FFICE.

EDGAR J. HOLLISTER, OF TECUMSEH, MICHIGAN.

VEGETABLE-WASH ER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 486,180, dated November 15, 1892.

Application filed November 28, 1891. Serial No. 413,397. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EDGAR J. HOLLISTER, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Tecumseh, in the county of Lenawee, and in the State of Michigan, have invented a new and usefulVegetable-Washer, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has relation to means or mechanism for washing vegetables, and while the apparatus or machine may be used for washing vegetables of various kinds I have devised or invented it specially for washing celery;

and the object is to provide means for speedily and effectually washing the sticks, stalks, or pieces of celery recently taken from the bed in any number or quantity.

I have fully and clearly illustrated my invention in the accompanying drawings,where- Figure 1 is a side view showing the basin or trough for the reception and discharge of the water and refuse, the supporting side rails for the shifting 0r movable table, the rollers for sustaining the table, and the means for imparting a rocking motion to the spraying or jet pipe. Fig. 2 is a front View wherein is shown the connection of the water-supply pipe. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the apparatus. Fig. 4 is an end view of the receiving or piling table. Fig. 5 is a plan view of the same; and Fig. 6 is a detail end view of the supply and jet pipe, showing the rocking arm.

A designates a frame of any suitable construction, adapted to support a detachable and movable table-grate. In the drawings I have shown this table as composed of standards or supports 1, carrying top rails 2 3,11o1ding the standards in vertical relation and position and constituting the tracks on which the rollers of the vegetable-table travel. Between these standards is arranged and secured a basin or trough 4: to receive the water as it runs off the vegetables duringthe washing operation. This trough at the bottom may be formed or provided with any suitable discharge to convey the water and debris from the trough to any desired point of deposit.

B designates the table on which the vegetables are placed during the operation of washing. This table is composed of end rails 5 6, to which are secured brackets 7, carrying rolloperator.

ers 8 in their upper ends, substantially as shown in the drawings. The side rails of this table are connected by cross-pieces 9, 10, and 11, or any suitable connections, and on these cross-pieces are secured a series of slats 12, having spaces between them, as shown, so as to permit the free escape of the Water and refuse from the vegetables through the table to the trough beneath. The rollers 8 run on the side rails 2 3 of the frame and carry the slatted or open-bottom table to any desired position under the jet-pipe at the option of the The slatted or open-bottom table may thus be moved or shifted so as to bring the vegetables thereon directly under the 0peration of the water discharged from the pipe.

To the respective ends of the slatted table are hinged splash boards 13 14, which serve the purpose of keeping the splash of the water going beyond the border of the table. Midway of the table -frame, at the sides thereof, are vertical standards 15 16, in which is journaled a shaft 17, carrying on one end a pulley 18, which is connected to a power (not shown) by a belt. On the other end of the shaft 17 is a disk or head 19, having an eccentrically-arranged pin 20, to which is connected a rod 21, having its lower end connected to an arm 22, clamped on the spray or jet pipe 0.

C designates the spray or jet pipe, j ournaled in the standards 15 16 and provided with a line of'perforations 23. This spray or jet pipe has its end extended and arranged in a couplingbox 24, so as to have a partial rotary movement,su bst-antially as shown in the drawings. The coupling-box 24 is fixed to a watersupply pipe 25, whereby the proper quantity of water is forced into the spraying-pipe.

D designates a table having slats 26 thereon and end pieces 27 28, as shown in the drawings. This table constitutes the receivingtable for the cleaned vegetables after they have been Washed on the main table, as stated. The vegetables are left on the table D until the water drips from them, When they can be removed to any point desired.

In practice it has been demonstrated that celery cleaned by my apparatus is at the same time cooled by the application of the bath and keeps better and longer than when cleaned by the ordinary processes of washing. The

cooling processes of the bath are retained by the stalks for some time during shipment.

The operation is as follows: The vegetables are placed on the table B from the side where the operator stands, and after placin gthe vegetables on the table the splashboard can be turned up to catch the splash, and then the table is pushed inward until the vegetables are under the spray of the pipe, to which they are subjected until cleaned, the water from the pipe which flows on the vegetables running through the spaces between the stalks or bunches and findingits way into the trough below the table, carrying with it the dirt. The power applied to rotate the pulley on the shaft rocks oroscillates the spray-pipe through the instrumentality of the eccentric connection and delivers the water over the vegetables on the table. While the washing is being done on the front of the shifting table an attendant can be placing vegetables on the other portion, which latter are washed when the table is drawn back to original position. The vegetables are at the proper time removed from the washing-table to the receiving-table for draining and then removed to the packing-room.

Having thus described my invention and stated its principle and mode of operation, so as to distinguish it from other inventions in the art, I now state whatI claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

In a vegetable-Washer, the combination of a supporting-frame, a movable table on the said frame, formed with slots, standards projected from the supporting-frame, bearings in the standards, a pipe formed with perforations in said bearings and arranged over the movable table, a laterally-extended arm on the perforated pipe, means, as described, to rock the perforated pipe, and a supply-pipe leading into the spray-pipe.

In witness whereof I have hereto set my hand in the presence of two attesting witnesses.

EDGAR J. HOLLISTER.

Attest:

CHARLES BURRIDGE, Soovn S. WALKER. 

